One Must Fall: 2097, revisiting a DOS classic
a day ago
- Development started with a freeware beta demo of 'One Must Fall' in 1993, created by Rob Elam, a pizza delivery driver, and his brother Ryan, using a $500 capture board.
- The switch from human fighters to giant robots (HARs) was a practical decision to avoid the complexity of animating realistic human movement.
- Pre-rendered 3D sprites were used, making it one of the earliest PC fighting games to feature such graphics, predating Donkey Kong Country.
- Tournament mode introduced RPG progression, allowing players to earn money, upgrade robots and pilots, and unlock hidden content — a feature added after beta testers requested it.
- Arenas had interactive hazards (spikes, strafing jets, fireballs) that could be used strategically, and robots could perform scrap moves and destruction finishers without gore.
- Networked play via modem, null-modem cable, and IPX was possible after a patch, making it one of the first fighting games with online capability.
- The soundtrack by Kenny Chou (C.C.Catch) is highly praised, created in MultiTracker with 8-bit samples and influenced by Depeche Mode.
- The game was distributed as shareware by Epic MegaGames, sold by mail order, and later declared freeware in 1999, leading to a lasting fan community and the OpenOMF reimplementation project.